Control Over the Elements of Composition · 对构图要素的控制
Conventions exist so the reading is free
- Grammar and mechanics that follow established conventions of language allow writers to clearly communicate their interpretation of a text.
- The stated purpose is communication, not correctness for its own sake.
- Every error the reader has to repair is attention taken off your argument.
A misplaced comma can make your reader do more detective work than your thesis does.
惯例的存在,是为了让阅读不受阻碍
- 遵循既定语言惯例的语法与格式,使写作者能够清楚地传达他们对文本的阐释。
- 其明确的目的是传达,而不是为正确而正确。
- 读者每修补一处错误,就有一分注意力从你的论证上移开。
逗号放错位置，读者得做的侦探工作可能比你的论点还多。
The stated purpose of following conventions is to... · 遵守惯例 stated 的目的是为了……
Every error the reader repairs is attention taken off your argument. · 读者修复的每一个错误都会分散对你论点的注意力。
The conventions that cost most in this subject
- Write about literature in the present tense: the narrator refuses, not refused.
- Name the speaker or narrator, never the author, for anything happening inside the text.
- Punctuate quotations exactly, and mark a poem's line break with a slash.
在这门学科中代价最大的几条惯例
- 写文学要用现在时:叙述者拒绝,而不是拒绝了。
- 对文本内部发生的一切,要点出说话者或叙述者,绝不要写作者。
- 引文标点要准确,并用斜线标出诗的分行。
Literary analysis is written in the past tense. · 文学分析是用过去时态撰写的。
The present tense is standard: the narrator refuses, not refused. · 现在时是标准用法：叙述者拒绝（refuses），而非 拒绝了（refused）。
For anything happening inside the text, name the speaker or narrator, never the . · 对于发生在文本内的一切事物，指明说话者或叙述者，永远不要提及。
The author is for statements about the writing itself. · 关于写作本身的陈述则指向作者。
Sentences that survive being read once
- An exam reader reads your essay once, at speed.
- Keep the subject and its verb close together, and put your claim in the main clause.
- A sentence that needs re-reading has cost you the point it was carrying.
经得起只读一遍的句子
- 阅卷人只会快速读你的文章一遍。
- 让主语与谓语靠近,并把你的主张放在主句里。
- 需要重读的句子,已经让你失去了它所承载的那个要点。
Does this sentence follow the conventions? · 这句话是否符合惯例？
Sort each sentence by the convention it keeps or breaks. · 根据每句话遵守或打破的惯例对其进行排序。
Write about a text in the present tense. The narrator refuses is standard in literary analysis; the narrator refused reads as retelling the plot rather than analysing the text — and it is the single most common convention error in exam essays.
写文本要用现在时。 叙述者拒绝是文学分析的标准写法;叙述者拒绝了读起来像在复述情节而不是分析文本——而这是考场文章中最常见的一处惯例错误。
Select all · 所有 the things control is not · 不. · 选择 所有 控制 不是 的东西。
Clarity is exactly what control is. · 清晰度正是控制的本质。
What control is not
- Control is not elaborate vocabulary, and it is not length.
- A long word used slightly wrongly costs more than the plain word would have earned.
- The rubric rewards clarity of interpretation; ornament is neutral at best.
掌控不是什么
- 掌控不是繁复的词汇,也不是篇幅。
- 一个用得稍有偏差的大词,其代价高于那个平常的词所能挣得的。
- 评分标准奖励的是阐释的清晰;华饰充其量是中性的。
Put the final pass in the order this lesson gives. · 按照本课给出的顺序进行最终检查。
An exam reader reads your essay once, at speed. · 考试阅卷人只以快速浏览的方式读一次你的文章。
A final pass, in this order
- Tense: is every verb about the text in the present?
- Attribution: have I written the author where I meant the speaker?
- Quotations: is every one punctuated exactly as the text has it?
最后一遍检查,按这个顺序
- 时态:关于文本的每个动词都用现在时了吗?
- 归属:我有没有在本该写说话者的地方写成了作者?
- 引文:每一处的标点是否都与文本完全一致?
Before: The author showed that she was angry, when the narrator said "she never forgave the house". After: The narrator's phrase "she never / forgave the house" places the refusal before its object. Present tense, right attribution, exact quotation, and a claim instead of a retelling.
修改前:*作者表明了她很生气,叙述者说"她从不原谅那所房子"。*修改后:*叙述者"她从不 / 原谅那所房子"这一措辞,把拒绝放在了它的对象之前。*现在时、正确归属、准确引文,并且是一个主张而不是复述。
Conventions allow a writer to communicate an interpretation clearly — that is their stated purpose. In this subject: present tense, name the speaker or narrator not the author, punctuate quotations exactly and mark a line break with a slash. Control is clarity, not vocabulary or length.
惯例使写作者能够清楚地传达一种阐释——这就是它们被写明的目的。在这门学科中:用现在时,点出说话者或叙述者而不是作者,引文标点准确,并用斜线标出分行。掌控是清晰,不是词汇量或篇幅。